Oliver looking to partnership with RV dealerships.

[Katjo]

Well this interesting! Oliver partnering with RV dealerships. What’s everyone think? 

[Cameron]

My first reaction is negative. When shopping for a trailer, I decided on the Oliver because it was a small company where I could tour the factory, ask lots of questions from people doing the hands on work, and well, because it was "Elite". It was elite because few people had one, you could only get one from the factory, and it was the antithesis of the mainstream RV brands in America. Although I live in California and can't easily take it back to Tennessee for routine maintenance, I've received excellent customer service that helped me resolve all my issues, so I don't care about the distance.

Sounds as if one of the issues is to partner with various RV businesses so that those businesses can provide service with the blessing of OTT. That's good, I guess. But if they're going to have units on site and selling them apart from OTT, I see that as a negative for the brand, not a positive. If OTT wants to grow the company, I think there are other ways they can do it without resorting to the standard model of RV sales lots. When I was kicking tires before getting the Oliver, I had some unpleasant experiences at those lots. It's the "used car salesman" syndrome. I don't want Oliver to get mixed up in that.

My impression of Oliver owners is that we are passionate about our trailers because it took some effort to get them. We are a dedicated bunch who love discussing every aspect of the trailer in our very active forums. We are committed, which adds brand value. Putting Oliver trailers on a lot with Jaycos will diminish the brand value.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Lordy Gawd, don’t let it be anything connected with Lithia Motors.  As you might infer, I’m not a fan.

[routlaw]

It would appear the first sentence of the note says it all, "sales and service". As for service well I've done everything that needed to be serviced so far. Not sure how any of this will be of much help to me. In the meantime we will just have to wait and see how this pans out apparently.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Thinking more about this, I’d like to see OTT set up their own regional centers  for both sales and service.  While I ended up buying used from an acquaintance, I was still left with a very positive impression of the Oliver organization.

IMO… They should replicate that culture and experience to accomplish their planned growth.

[Patriot]

I think this is a wise move by Oliver. Thinking forward and into the future about potential new customers and more exposure of the Oliver brand and having approved dealerships that can work on existing Oliver owners trailers. If you are in Southern California or Washington State or Maine and you need service on your Oliver it’s a long trek to Hohenwald. I think if Oliver can partner up with a strong dealership sales network and get techs trained up on servicing Olivers it has the potential for a very successful venture. It appears from Anita’s email nothing will prevent owners from still having service done at the Hohenwald Service Center. 

Onward!

Patriot🇺🇸

[Katjo]

@Patriot I completely agree. They are spreading their wings and I feel it will be beneficial to the Oliver Company as far as sales go and especially for Oliver owners in regards to nationwide Oliver trained service centers. 

[HDRider]

My first reaction was negative.  I can't lie.  Oliver is very expensive now.  Dealers have to make money.  The price will go up even more for dealers to make their margin on top of the profit Oliver makes.

 

Or,,,

 

Let's not think about the other possibility.   Perish the thought. 

 

And even worse than the perished thought, the next thing we will hear is that Warren bought Oliver.

[dewdev]

I think it is a good idea to partner with RV service centers.

I do not like the idea of Oliver providing trailers to RV sales centers. They will just inflate the alreay high cost. 

A RV sales provider may not want to sell Oliver's if the factory is also selling them (at a lower cost)

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE IDEA, PROVIDE YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE EMAIL THEY SENT. OTT will not likely see any comments on this form post.

[HDRider]

Before I bought Oliver I looked at other trailers that did not have a wide dealer network.  They certified service centers across the country and enabled that model to work..  That is a good thing.

 

Another trailer sold through a few select dealers.  The story I heard over and over was that every trailer coming was already sold.  The manufacturer did not sell direct.

 

Dealers' emphasis is on selling.  Dealers view service as an afterthought, or a necessary evil to sell trailers. 

 

I can see Oliver wanting to sustain a certain volume during this downturn.  Using dealers is certainly the first idea one might have to do that.  Dealers will push whatever trailer gives them the greatest margin.  Oliver will either languish on dealer lots, get even more expensive with dealer margin tacked on, or Oliver will have to lower the cost to dealers to move units. 

[Boudicca908]

I hope if OTT decides to do this, they reach out to existing owners for personal feedback on service experience -- because a service center can have a "great reputation" locally or even regionally and still fail on providing good service for an Oliver. 

[New2Oliver]

New Coke.

Remington arms.

Bud Light.

Oliver trailers.

 

[CRM]

27 minutes ago, New2Oliver said:

New Coke.

Remington arms.

Bud Light.

Oliver trailers.

 

Given Oliver's history of quality and service I think it's pretty ridiculous to make those comparisons even before any details are known. They've earned that much.

[New2Oliver]

4 minutes ago, CRM said:

Given Oliver's history of quality and service I think it's pretty ridiculous to make those comparisons even before any details are known. They've earned that much.

The proposal to change the channel of distribution to a network of dealers is more than a detail.

All of the companies I mentioned also had tremendous histories of quality and brand loyalty.  They are also examples of the fragility of brand equity and as you say, how "ridiculous" it would be to demolish decades of work in an instant.    I am not knocking anything about Oliver.  What I am saying is that it is naive to think that partnering with any entity that is of lower repute, less quality, less competent technical service will not damage this brand.  The only question is to what extent, and how quickly the brand will be diminished.    

[Cort]

I'm on the West Coast - glad to see service centers out here. 

[HDRider]

I would love to see Oliver owned and operated dealers and service centers here.  Key phrase "Oliver Owned and Operated"

 

 

[Bryan in NC]

Partnering with dealerships to provide service is a smart idea if Oliver does so with family run businesses that have a good reputation in their areas.   That said, I'm close enough to Hohenwald that I would still take my Ollie there for anything serious, even if a service center opened up closer to home.  I'm lukewarm to cold on the idea of placing units at dealerships.  One of the primary reasons I bought from Oliver (and almost from Escape) was because they sold factory direct.

I don't recall, will Oliver ship your trailer to you or does everyone have to pick it up in Hohenwald?  For those that don't want to go to BC, Escape Travel Trailers ships to designated spots around the US (cost various by distance from the factory).  I wonder if Oliver looked into something similar?

[topgun2]

2 hours ago, Bryan in NC said:

I don't recall, will Oliver ship your trailer to you or does everyone have to pick it up in Hohenwald?

Well - yes and no.  Oliver has worked with a few "shippers" to get an Oliver delivered directly to a customer.  However, I believe that the actual shipment and arrangements for the shipping are completed between the shipper and the customer versus Oliver handling all of the details.  In any case, it can be arranged such that a customer does not have to go to Hohenwald to get their Ollie.

Bill 

[Steph and Dud B]

My few experiences with RV dealer-based service centers have not been good. Dealers have a hard time finding and retaining techs, and the techs they have are usually poorly-informed about the details of the various product lines they sell. Just read through any of the forums for SOB trailers and you'll see these types of comments over and over. "I asked the service tech what the red switch does, and he didn't know," "My trailer's been in the shop for 6 weeks now," "I finally got my trailer back and the problem still isn't fixed," etc. In our case, the dealer simply wouldn't return our calls and we ended up taking the trailer back to the factory in Indiana for repairs.

Now we only deal with a local/mobile service facility that does NOT sell RVs. If OTT wanted to partner up with RV service centers, fine, but I'd be very wary of any dealership-based service they offered.

As for sales, I think a dealer network will effectively cheapen the product, one way or another. To keep the price point the same while still allowing dealer profit would require lowering the manufacturing costs/cutting corners. We've already seen a bit of that to cover the COVID sales crunch: no more customization, no swoosh decals. Two of our previous trailers were from independent manufacturers not based in Elkhart. Slightly better quality than the Indiana trailers and slightly more expensive. Both those companies went under because they couldn't compete side by side with cheaper units on dealer lots.

So, service centers? Maybe good. Dealer sales? I don't think so. But,OTT apparently needs to do something different. I hope it works out.

[Cameron]

Sounds like the decision has been made and OTT is moving fast.

[HDRider]

I guess the questionnaire to us was only perfunctory.

 

The article from August 24, 2023

“We are excited to embark on this new chapter and expand our reach through our Dealership Program,” said Scott Oliver, CEO of Oliver Travel Trailers. “We believe that this is the best way to ensure that our customers have a positive experience with our products and services.”

The dealer network is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. In the meantime, Oliver is accepting applications from qualified dealers.

https://www.rvtravel.com/oliver-travel-trailers-establish-dealer-network-1119b/

[HDRider]

More from the same link

 

In addition to the dealer network, Oliver is also expanding its manufacturing capacity. The company is investing in new equipment and facilities to increase its production output. This will allow Oliver to meet the growing demand for its travel trailers.

“We are excited about the future of Oliver Travel Trailers,” said Oliver. “We believe that this dealer network and our investment in manufacturing will help us to continue to grow and succeed.”

[John E Davies]

Mark your calendars, the day this network becomes official indicates the death of an un-matchable independent brand. I hope there are very firm stipulations to prevent price manipulations by the clueless dealer sales droids. If dealers can set prices, it will destroy the stellar resale value of existing Hulls.

I have some personal experience with a local “premium” dealer, RnR RV Superstore, I sure hope they are not in the new network ;( They do indeed have a fine glitzy indoor super showroom, they took over a defunct Fred Meyer box store. I guess that would be good for showing an Ollie…

Sad times ahead! IMHO of course.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Katjo]

One of the things I love about Oliver’s is they are a independent company and you could only buy one (new) direct from the factory. It’s part of what makes the Oliver so special. 

I understand this move from Oliver’s perspective. They are a business looking to grow. I hope this works out well for Oliver, I wish them all the best and much success as I’m sure it was a difficult decision to expand outside of their home base. 

[Patriot]

4 hours ago, HDRider said:

More from the same link

 

In addition to the dealer network, Oliver is also expanding its manufacturing capacity. The company is investing in new equipment and facilities to increase its production output. This will allow Oliver to meet the growing demand for its travel trailers.

“We are excited about the future of Oliver Travel Trailers,” said Oliver. “We believe that this dealer network and our investment in manufacturing will help us to continue to grow and succeed.”

Awesome, and I read the entire link. A business needs to grow or die on the vine. Good for present and future owners! 👍🏻 

Patriot🇺🇸